Agenda item

Ian Cullen, Licensing Team Leader;

a)    presented a report to the Licensing Committee to seek approval for the implementation of the statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards and explained how the standards would operate within the Council.

b)    explained the background to the consultation process covering the following main points:

·         On the 21 July 2020 the Department for Transport (DfT) published new Statutory Taxi and Private Hire Vehicle Standards (the Standards) to all licensing authorities, seen at Appendix A to the report. The Standards were aimed at safeguarding children and vulnerable adults

·         The Standards were a result of extensive consultation with the police, the trade, the Institute of Licensing and others and set out the approach that Licensing Authorities should adopt when carrying out their functions

·         Although the Standards were guidance and not compulsory, the DfT expected that the recommendations laid out would be implemented by licensing authorities unless there was a compelling local reason not to do so

·         This Council had already previously implemented a number of the recommendations of its own volition, but the guidance provided the opportunity to consider further changes

·         A consultation was held from 17 January 2022 to 21 February 2022 which requested feedback from members of the trade, stakeholders and members of the public regarding the proposed changes to policy, conditions and procedures

·         In addition, a survey document was produced and circulated to all Private Hire operators, PH/HC proprietors and PH/HC drivers as well as other key stakeholders. In total over 500 different individuals and bodies were consulted. The consultation was also posted on the Council website

·         The Council received 2 responses to the consultation exercise and could be seen at Appendices C and D to the report

·         The consultation responses and comments were considered by the Licensing Team Leader and Licensing Officers. The comments received and results presented did not provide a compelling or strong reason as to why the Council should not implement the proposed changes

c)    requested approval for the implementation of the statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards

The Chair thanked Ian for a thorough report and welcomed any comments and questions from members. The following comments emerged from discussions held:

·         Consideration was given to the potential purchase of NR3 National Register of Refusals and Revocations software with comments that the use of the software is due to made compulsory

·         Confirmation was provided that at present, we relied on the trustworthiness of applicants in the disclosure of any previous licenses held or granted

·         It was agreed that the use of NR3 software would be of benefit and that previous revocations had been discovered because of the due diligence carried out by the licensing team

·         Considerations had been given to the purchase of NR3 by the Council however work was ongoing to see if an established link could be made with the use of the database and other departments of the Council such as housing

·         As an internal operational decision, the purchase of NR3 could be a recommendation that would be considered further

·         Members discussed the cost of the database being borne by license holders and it was agreed that the Licensing Team Leader would take comments to the Service Manager

·         The possibility of sharing the database with other authorities was explored however it was concluded that this would be an unlikely option owing to software licensing conditions

·         It was confirmed that in the instance of application of NR3 there would be a data protection impact assessment as part of the procurement exercise

The Chair gave thanks for comments received.

RESOLVED that approval be agreed for the implementation of the statutory taxi and private hire vehicle standards and  how the standards would operate within the Council.